Page 84 of Their Promise

Taking a deep breath, I said, “It all started with the necklace.”

Three hours later,I lay on the couch, talked out, and listened as my family and the trio discussed next steps.

“First things first, let’s focus on the necklace,” Mason said and looked at it on my chest.

My hand immediately went up to wrap around it. “It’s a useful tool,” I commented. “It helps us find the portals.”

“Or, it’s drawing them to you,” Trey suggested.

“This was the first time we’ve had a portal open in our clan lands,” Caleb pointed out.

Kayden quickly said, “We aren’t saying you’re drawing them, but the necklace, Lily.”

My eyes narrowed because he’d known what I was thinking quickly.

“Try to take it off,” Mason said.

Exhaling harshly through my nose, I reached back towards the clasp, but as my fingers neared it, my hands shook so much that I had to lower them and put them in my lap. Shaking my head, I said, “I can’t.”

“Can we try to remove it?” Mason asked and turned to face me. “Please?”

A hiss escaped before I could stop it and I slapped my hands over my mouth.

“So, this is our fault,” Kayden whispered and his expression darkened. “We gave her that necklace knowing it came from a demon.”

“We didn’t know it came from the demon. We thought it had stolen it,” Trey reminded him.

“We still knew it was demon related.”

“That was kind of the point of the gift,” Mason added.

“Boys!” Mom shouted. “Worry about your gift giving priorities later. Let’s talk about this.”

“I don’t really want to fight her to try to remove it,” Tony said and rubbed his ribs absentmindedly. “Last time we fought she wasn’t even trying and bruised my ribs.”

“Wait for her to fall asleep and try to remove it then?” Kayden said.

“You would suggest that, stalker,” I hissed at him.

Everyone’s eyes widened.

“Maybe we should talk about the necklace later,” Tony said in a higher pitched voice than normal.

Scrubbing my face with my hands, I apologized, “Sorry.”

“Why does my daughter think you’re a stalker, Kayden?” Branson leaned forward on the couch menacingly.

“Can you pull up the video and screencast it to the TV?” Mason asked, distracting everyone.

Running upstairs, I grabbed my laptop, then ran back and hooked it up.

Everyone stared anxiously at the screen from when it started with him in the bag until the end when the humanoid had smashed the phone.

“Replay it at half speed,” Riddick said.

We watched it a dozen more times.

“Send it to us so we can use enhancement software,” Caleb ordered me.

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